Hi- I wasn't sure where to put this. One of the couponing blogs that I post on mash up mom, has a crunchy Friday post most Friday's, where she mentions deals available on natural foods. Rachel just posted today that for people who own a kindle, you can download the kindle version of Terra Brockmen's latest book on Amazon for a limited time for free. The book is called The Season's on Henry's Farm, and it gets five stars on Amazon. It is all about Henry Brockman who comes to the Evanston market, and it also gives some recipes. Here is a link to the book on Amazon.

Remember that this offer is only available for a limited time, and probably ends today. Grab it while you can. Mash Up Mom lists the best free kindle books on Amazon every day on her site. It is amazing how many free downloads there are on Amazon. I would download it myself, but I don't have a kindle. Hope this helps, Nancy

I'd like to recommend the Dulce de Leche stand. I don't know their exact name, but they are on the far east side. It's a husband and wife and they sell alfajores and several other products with dulce de leche. Everything we've tried has been excellent. I worry because they are in the most obscure isle and their English is not the best. If you like dulce de leche, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Hi- On Henry Brockman's latest blog which I receive in my email every week, he mentions that he is doing another "Junior Citizen" discount, where anybody that is from the age of 20-29 receives a 25% discount tomorrow 7/25. Apparently he did this last Saturday too, but I was not aware of it. I am way past my 20's anyway. I don't know how many younger people we have here, but hopefully somebody here can take advantage of this. Henry is one of my favorite growers that comes to Evanston. He is certified organic, and he is not cheap, but he is really reasonable considering it is organic, and a few weeks ago I got a 3 1/2 pound zucchini for $1.

I also mentioned this in the Boltwood post, but Henry is also doing a garlic tasting over at Boltwood tomorrow from 2:30-3:30. He is going to have eight different variates of garlic you can sample. The tasting is free, but the bar is going to be open if you want to purchase a drink. One of the variates Henry is growing this year is a spicy Korean one, which I have been told by Henry is really spicy. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- I just have to vent here. I just came back from the Evanston market, and last night while I was on the Friend's of the Evanston Market Facebook page, I noticed that the person in charge of the market was looking for volunteer to conduct this survey about the market. She did not try to recruit volunteers until Thursday, and I did not hear about this until about 10:00 last night. They still needed 18 additional volunteers. If I had known about it earlier, I would have volunteered. When I got to the market about 10:15, they were super busy, and as I was leaving I went to the Friends table to see if I could see anybody conducting surveys. Somebody was passing out coupons for Koi. They did a demo today. All I got was a free fortune cookie and a coupon for the restaurant. In back of her was one woman with a clip board who was just standing there, and I went up to her to ask her if she was conducting the survey, and she said yes. She had only done three surveys before I approached her. I told her I wanted to do the survey. All they asked was how often you came to the market, how much you spend every week, and if you make a special trip there, and your zip code. The person doing the survey was a foreigner, and was hard to understand. When she was done, I asked her what they were going to do with the data they were acquiring, and she had no idea.

Unfortunately if they do this again next week, I won't have time to volunteer, unless I volunteer at 7:30 in the morning, which is not going to happen. I might email the market manager telling her what happened today. The market was crazy busy, and so they could have gotten a lot of people to do the survey, if they would have approached them, instead of standing off in one corner.

BTW- Henry had some hot peppers today, and I saw some more tomatoes, but they were all still $3 a pound, and I was told that John First will no have any heirlooms for another two weeks. Does anybody know if they have the farmer's market at the YMCA this summer? I go there on Wednesdays when it is open, and get some sweet corn. I only live two blocks from there, and so it is not a big deal if I come home empty handed this Wednesday. Thanks, Nancy

Hi- I just got an email from Terra Brockman that she is going to be one of the producers for a documentary which is being film about the Brockman family. It is tentatively titled The 32 Hour Harvest, and it is going to focus on the time spent on preparing to sell at the Evanston market and the actual selling that takes place there by Terra and Henry on Saturdays at the Evanston market. The documentary is going to be filmed this September, and they expect it to be ready to view sometime in April. The filmmakers need to raise $10,000 by September 15th in order for the film to be made. Here is the link to their website.

Hi- I just want to warn people that drive to the Evanston market and park off of Emerson in one of the two small parking lots across the street from where the construction is taking place. I am talking about in front of Prana Cafe and the yoga place. I prefer to park there, as opposed to the garage, because you don't have to go up three flights of stairs with all your purchases to get to your car. It takes less time too. I work in Winnetka from nine to noon, and I try to stop at the Evanston market on my way there, to get whatever I am afraid they are going to run out of, and then I stop there again at 12:20, to catch any bargains. This last Saturday, I found a parking place there, and ran up to Henry's really quick to see if he had any mesclan. He did not. While I was parking my car though, I noticed that there were signs up near the cafe telling farmer's market customers that their car would get towed. For obvious reasons I did not stay there very long. I had to get going anyway. There was also a janitor in one of the buildings informing a woman that she could not park in front of the building anymore on Saturdays. This might compel me to actually walk to the market at 7:30, instead of driving there at the last minute. By the time I finished working Saturday morning, and stopped at Jewel for a few minutes, and parked my car in the parking garage, only one grower had any peaches left at 12:30, and they were past their prime. The peach crop in Michigan is smaller this year than usual, and so if you want decent peaches get there early. Hope this helps, Nancy

NFriday wrote:I prefer to park there, as opposed to the garage, because you don't have to go up three flights of stairs with all your purchases to get to your car.

The southeast corner of the garage has a bank of four elevators, and there is also one elevator in the northeast corner of the garage (which is not labeled on the ground floor but you can reach by walking to the left of the rental car agency's car wash bay). Yes they are further than the stairs at the northwest corner of the garage closest to the farmers market, but if you're loaded with purchases, the elevators may be easier to use. I usually park in the area of the garage adjacent to the elevators anyway, because it's easier to find spaces and it's not as mobbed with people on their way to and from the market. Parking anywhere in the garage also means significantly less walking than parking on the other side of Emerson.

If you are parking in the garage for more than an hour, don't forget to get your parking ticket validated at the farmer's market, in the booth for the market itself. It's usually the last booth on the right in the row right alongside the parking garage. Like all the city garages, the first hour of parking in the garage is free. I'm told that their validation is good all day, although when going to the market I've never parked there for more than two hours.

Hi- Thanks everybody for your advice. Like I said, I used to park off of Emerson, right by the Cafe and yoga studio, but since I know that they will tow there, I won't park there anymore. Last Saturday, I got up to Winnetka to work for the family I work for on Saturday mornings, and then I tried to stop in Jewel on Green Bay on my way home at noon, and there were no parking places in the lot. I finally ended up parking on Green Bay and running in there for just s few minutes, but by the time I got to the Evanston market at 12:30, only one grower had peaches left for sale. I bought some, but they were kind of sad. The peach crop is smaller than usual this summer because it got down to 18 below in Michigan last winter. My sister is lucky, and she has 90% of a crop of peaches, but First's only have 10 % of a crop, and a lot of people there only have 50% of a crop. I think I might walk over to the market at 7:30 this Saturday so I can get some decent peaches, and corn and mesclan if Henry has it this Saturday. I usually buy my corn from First's, but by the time I get there at 12:30 it is either really picked over, or they are out of it. It seems like the market is busier this summer too. When I do go there for a few minutes at 8:30, it seems like it is packed. Maybe that is why they are out of peaches later too. I've also noticed with the cold weather we have been having this summer, that nobody is reducing the price on their heirloom tomatoes right before they close like they used to. Thanks, Nancy

We really appreciate the tiny market in Evanston on Wednesday mornings in front of the YMCA on Grove St. The man operating the stand told me that he gets started at 7:30 am on Wednesdays.

It has the main items that we feel make a great difference to buy at a Farmers' Market: Corn, peaches, tomatoes. Of course there are other items. This past Wednesday, the guy was packing up and getting ready to leave around 12:30 pm. I asked how much the green peppers were. He said, "95 cents for one or ten for a dollar." Now it took a few beats for that to register. He then waved his hand over all the eggplants (white and purple, medium size), green peppers, yellow squash and zucchini and said "ten for a dollar!" so we grabbed. He had giant bunches of pungent basil for $2. Quite a lot of tomatoes were left at that hour. We bought the last three quarts of peaches for $10. He still had corn and the price was fluctuating dizzyingly. We did not hang around but there were a number of people and the grabbing was getting fast and furious.

We very much like this guy whose name and farm name I do not know. We like the fact that we can park across the street and walk twenty feet to the stand. We like the quality and prices of the produce. And we especially like that we can get our veggies and fruit for the weekend on a Wednesday and not have to try to shoehorn a trip to the crowded big market on a summer Saturday morning when there is so much else to do.

If anyone knows the name of the farm or farmer, please post! And I wonder how many more weeks he will be there. I should have asked. Does anyone know?

Hi- That is Jon First's SIL that goes to the Y. I live two blocks from the Y. I used to go there on Wednesdays when I was home, to get sweet corn, but then when I went there about three weeks ago, he wasn't there. I asked Jon who comes to the downtown Evanston market if they were still coming to the Y, and he said his SIL was. They come from SW Michigan in Dowagiac, about 30 miles from where I grew up. I finally figured out that he is coming earlier this season, and going home earlier. He used to be there from 9:00am-3:pm. Now he is there until 1:00. The next time I went they were out of corn by the time I got there at 12:30. The family also operates three markets on Saturdays, including downtown Evanston, Wilmette, and Glenview. The daughter and SIL used to come to Green City too on Saturdays, but I don't think they go there anymore. I do occasionally go to the market in Wilmette on Saturday's, which Jon's Mother is in charge of, and out of the three markets I have been too, the one that Jon runs on Saturday mornings in downtown Evanston is the cheapest. He has at least two different veggies for 10/$1 all morning. When I went to the Y last week, the SIL told me that the veggies were 5/$1, which is still a good deal. They have an 800 acre farm, and Jon told me recently that 700 acres of the farm is soybeans, and just 100 of it is fruit and veggies, and the fruit and veggies take a whole lot more work to grow, harvest and sell. This year they only had 10% of a peach crop, and so the Y is the only market they are selling peaches at now. The market should last there at least another week, but it should be done by the middle of September. I think once they finish picking corn there, they hang it up.

You can get some good deals from Jon if you go there right before they close. A few weeks ago he sold me the last four pints of blueberries he had for $12, and he used to have a bag sale, where you could buy a bag from him for $5, and fill it up. You could put fruit in the bag too. This year he has not done that because he hasn't brought any peaches to the downtown market, and everything has been late. He used to include his heirloom tomatoes in his closing sales, and this year he has not, and they were still $3 a pound when he was packing up. He has really good corn, and his corn is cheaper than Nichol's is, but he has sold out a few times this summer when I have gotten there late.

The deal with the zucchini though is every time he has it he sells it for a quarter a piece or 10/$1, but a lot of people do not like zucchini, and a lot of people do not know what to do with it, and so it sits there, where as the peppers and cukes are really big sellers. Hope this helps, Nancy

The Wednesday morning farmstand in Evanston on Grove Street in front of the YMCA was rocking yesterday.

We were there around 10:30 am and an entire selection of veggies were five for a dollar: eggplant, yellow squash, zucchini and nice big crunchy green peppers with a few half-yellow or half-red green peppers thrown in. The stand was almost out of peaches at that hour. Again, we bought what peaches he had left. They are good! But there were still plenty of beautiful tomatoes and lots of corn at that hour.

The man who runs the stand said that he will be there for at least three more weeks (specifically, September 10, 17 and 24) and may go longer depending on how his crops are coming.

Hi- At the downtown Evanston market 1ST Orchards had eggplant and green pepper for 10/$1 or $.25 each, and when I got there at 12:20, he had just marked down his heirloom tomatoes to 3/$1. Warning though, bring small bills. I ended up getting 6 heirloom tomatoes, 4 ears of corn, and 10 eggplant. I would have gotten some peppers to replace some of the eggplant, but I am not a fan of green peppers. I love the red ones though. I owed them $5, but the smallest bill I had was a $10, and they were out of $5. All the person who waited on me had were 4 one dollar bills. Jon told me that I would have to get 3 more tomatoes, which I preceded to do, but she did not hand me the $4 she owed me before I did. I got my tomatoes, and then looked for her so I could get my $4, and she informed me that she had already given it to me, and I told her no, because I knew exactly how much money I had to start with, and I was $4 short. She kept insisting that she gave me the money. Finally Jon came over and interceded, and asked me how much she owed me, and he hands me $4. Then I had three more tomatoes than I really needed. I got home, and asked a few people that were walking into the lobby of my condo building, and one person said that they hated eggplant, and they just bought tomatoes at Jewel. Finally the building engineer showed up, and I offered to sell him some tomatoes, and said that I would sell him 3/$1, and he asked if I had a bag, and I said yes, and I said he could pick out his own. He helped himself to 6 tomatoes. When I questioned him about it, he said that I said that they were 3/$1. I just had the three smallest tomatoes left. I ended up making a batch of salsa with them, and it was good. He did give me the $2 he owed me. He told me a few days later that the tomatoes were good. He turned me down on the eggplant too. I think people don't know what to do with it.

I bet that he will have heirlooms really cheap again about noon this Saturday, but this time I am bringing smaller bills. He still had tomatoes left when the market was over. Green Acres also had all their heirlooms on sale for $1.50 a pound. Hope this helps, Nancy

I am still working on the 10/$1 green peppers I bought a week ago last Saturday (!). The first all-green group - three, IIRC - went into that shrimp and PQM andouille file gumbo. Then I noted mid-week that two had completely ripened to yellow, so those went into Fuchsia Dunlop's version of Kung Pao chicken. Two more were cut into wide julienne and grill-roasted with some white onion, red jalapenos, and poblanos for a big batch of rajas, which have gone into fajitas, and tonight's tortilla soup.

The remaining three are now either half-red or half-yellow, and still look great. I'm thinkin' some minced shrimp dim sum would be great, as I have all of the ingredients on hand.

Hi- I buy a bunch of red peppers when Nichols put them on sale. I cut them up, and then I lay them on a cookie sheet and freeze them. When they are frozen I put them into a freezer bag. Red peppers are so expensive in the winter time, and I love them. I use them in stir fry, and I also have several recipes that I make when I am trying to clean out my fridge, including pasta primavera, vegetarian curry, and vegetarian chili. The green peppers that 1st Orchards sells seems to be the most popular out of all their 10/$1 veggies. I think a lot of people buy them to use in salads, where as eggplants and zucchini, aren't conducive to being eaten raw, and people don't know what to do with them. I make babaganoush with the eggplant as well as ratatouille, but ratatouille is a lot more work than most people are willing to take the time for. When I used to have zucchini in my garden, I found out that I could never give it away, because people either did not like it, or did not know what to do with it. I had no problem giving away some of my ratatouille though. At 10/$1 I don't know how they make any money. Hopefully they will have heirloom tomatoes really cheap again tomorrow like they did last Saturday. I'll try to remember to bring some small bills with me though. I know people complain that the farmer's market is too expensive, and won't go there, but if you look around, you can find some really good deals. The first time I posted on LTH it was on the post entitled I won't buy from farmer fleece you. Thanks, Nancy

Next Wednesday, September 25, is the last day for the little farmstand on Grove St. in Evanston in front of the YMCA. The stand starts rolling at 7:30 am, I am told, although I have never been able to get there that early.

This past Wednesday, we came late and only a LOT of tomatoes were left. We included some medium-sized green and yellow striated heirloom tomatoes in our haul and boy are they good! These need to be sliced and eaten without any condiments, they are that good.

Hi- I suspect that the tomatoes will be winding down soon. If you are looking for another market on Wednesdays, there is Ridgeville, which I believe runs from 3:00-7:00pm. I have not been there in a few years, and so I don't know who is selling there. They are located right off of Ridge South of Main. The last time I went, they only had one person selling veggies, and he was not able to make it that day. They also had Lyon's who sell some veggies, but mostly sell fruit, and they had people selling cheese and baked goods and a few other things. If you are available to go to a market on Sundays, there is the Skokie market on Sunday mornings right by the Skokie library on Oakton, and then there is the Glenwood market, which I went to once that is over near the Heartland Cafe in Rogers Park. Out of those two, I prefer the Glenwood market. They have a few more organic growers than Skokie does, and they did have Oriana selling asian pears there. I am not sure if she is there this season. When I got to the Evanston market this last Saturday, Jon had his tomatoes marked down to $1 a pound even for heirlooms, and by the time I got around to paying for my tomatoes and corn, he said that he had just put the scale away, and so the tomatoes were now 3/$1, and so he sold me 7 heirloom tomatoes for $2. I used the majority of them to make a batch of salsa. I love homemade salsa.

1st has been a treasure trove of great tomatoes for cheap this year. I had to make a big batch of Rick Bayless's Salsa cocida de Chile Chipotle y Jitomate for a work function, and was able to use the 3/$1 heirlooms. This cooked salsa is great with even ho-hum (or canned!) tomatoes, but with dead-ripe heirlooms, it was a revelation. The leftovers that I stashed at home made the best chilaquiles I've ever made - or had.

The ones I bought today are going straight to the freezer - whole, uncooked, and unpeeled. Also a Bayless trick. Dude knows his stuff.

Hi- I made it to the market earlier today, and I was able to walk there from my condo. As usual I bought too much, and still had more to buy, but could not carry anything more, and so I walked home, and then I walked back there and got my tomatoes, sweetcorn and watermelon on my second trip. As I was walking down Maple on my way to Church, a woman walked up to me, and asked me if I needed any help. I told her I could make it home okay. When I went back and looked at the tomatoes, they were all $1 a pound, but they had mixed all the heirlooms in with the conventional tomatoes, and there weren't that many heirlooms to begin with, and so I decided to pass. I walked over to Kinnikinnick's table, and their heirlooms were $2.50 a pound. I noticed that some of the tomatoes were on their last leg, and I asked the farmer if there was anyway she could sell me some of the tired tomatoes for less money, and she said yes. I found five tomatoes that were cut or bruised, and she charged me $1 a pound for them. She referred to them as her gazpacho soup special. The deal with 1st though is that first he marks them down to $1 a pound, and then when he starts loading up his truck, and puts the scale away, that is when he sells them for 3/$1. One week he sold them for 4/$1. Normally I don't get there until he has them down to 3/$1. Last week I got there and he said they were $1 a pound, and by the time I finished picking out my tomatoes he had changed it to 3/$1. He looked in my bag, and told me I owed him $2 for my seven tomatoes. I have a feeling that this next week the tomatoes are not going to be as plentiful.

What do you do with your frozen tomatoes? Do you use them in soup? I am going to make a final batch of salsa and some tabouli salad with mine tomorrow. Thanks, Nancy

Cooked salsas, tomato pasta sauces, stews, and soups. Really high-quality flavor. Also, the skins slip right off as they thaw - all you need to do is core them. Great way to preserve tomatoes without the bother and mess of canning them, if you have the freezer space.

Hi- I get the emails every week that Henry Brockman's sister does, to tell people what Henry is bringing to the Evanston market, and I just got an email today, telling me that Henry and his wife are taking a sabbatical for almost a year and living in Japan. They are moving to Japan sometime this January, and returning in December of 2015. Henry has several former apprentices that are taking over for him while he is gone. He has been farming for over 20 years, and decided it was time to get away for a while. I wish him well. It will be interesting because he will be over in Japan when the documentary about him is released. They were filming on his farm earlier this month. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- I think the heirloom tomatoes are about done for this season. When I got there today at 12:30, Jon First was out of tomatoes. He said that he has a whole new field thathe has not picked from yet though. I highly suspect that any of those tomatoes are heirloom though. Very few of the heirloom tomatoes are determinate where they get ripe all at once. I did get a bag of tomatoes from Kenninnick Farms again for $3. When she saw me looking at the tomatoes, she said that she would give me a deal if I wanted any of them. She is not going to have very many tomatoes next week she told me though. I did get 20 peppers from Nichols for $5. I will freeze most of them. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- It looks like I have not posted on the Evanston market for ages. I was there again today, and got a spicy globe basil plant for $1. Nichol's had all their large basil plants marked down to $4 which is a good deal. I wished I would have waited. I bought seven basil plants at Anton's this week, and spent $21. Edible Acres, the organic farm at ETHS was there again this week. They told me they are going to be there every week. They had small bags of mesclun they had marked down to $1, and I was going to get a bag at Henry's for $3.50, but for $1 a bag I could not pass them up. They also had large heads of of romaine for $3. I told them that they were $2 last week, and the person in charge told me that I could have a head of romaine for $2. I also got a quart of broccoli from Nichol's, that weighed 2.65 pounds for $4 which I thought was a good deal. This was the last week for strawberries for some of the growers. I usually buy my strawberries at Nichol's because they have the best ones, and they are semi organic, but this year because of all the rain they were good, but not great. This week I ended up getting two quarts of strawberries and a pint of cherries at Koeningshof's. They told me that Michigan did not get nearly as much rain this week as we did.

Has anybody tried the crepe place there? There was a long line for them when I got there at 11:00. It seems like there are more bakeries selling bread this summer too. Has anybody tried any of the farm raised char from Wisconsin that they are selling for $20 a pound? Two weeks ago I noticed that they were all sold out and so I assume it is good.

This was the first week for blueberries, but I passed. They are going to be better next week. In a week or two they should have early peaches too. Next week might be the last week for cherries. I bought a package of blueberries on sale at Jewel last Sunday for $2, and they were really mushy, and they were barely edible. They were Southern berries. Keoningshof's had lots of raspberries today, and they should have them until the market closes in November. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- I went to the farmer's market over at the Y today. I think they operate it on Tuesdays from 7:00am-1:00pm. I was planning on getting some sweet corn, and they have a different grower selling there unfortunately. Lyon's from South Haven is selling there on Tuesday's, and they do not raise sweet corn, and so I went home empty handed. When I got there I did not see any sweet corn, and I asked, but I noticed that the two men selling there did not look familiar, and they told me that they do not raise corn, and then I saw the sign for Lyon's. They had cherries, blueberries, peaches, tomatoes, beets and potatoes, and maybe a few other things. They were selling everything by the pint or quart though, and I am sure that they were not willing to deal like 1ST did. I guess I will have to wait until Saturday for my corn. 1ST and Nichols have the best corn at the Saturday market. The corn I got this last Saturday from 1St was much better than the corn I got the week before. It was not bad at all. BTW- I asked Jon First when he is going to have heirloom tomatoes, and he said it was going to be a couple more weeks. It is going to be a couple more weeks before we get freestone peaches too. The flaming fury peaches I got Saturday from Jon were better than they were the week before, and were not bad, but the peaches should be even better in a few weeks. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- I went to the farmer's market over at the Y on Grove Street this morning, and I was wrong, they are open from 8:00am-1:00pm on Tuesdays. They had ripe red havens. I just had one. I have had better Red Havens, but they were still way better than anything you would get in the grocery store. They were $5 a quart or 2/$9. They also had fresh picked sweet corn 3/$1. I am going to have some of that for lunch. They also had blueberries, plums baby watermelons and lots of tomatoes. I was interested in the melons until I asked how much they were, and I was told $5 for watermelons that were at the most 4 pounds. I passed on those. That was a good price for the corn. I could not make it to the downtown Evanston market on Saturday, and I ended up going to Valli and Jewel, and all I got in the way of produce was some bananas, which are kind of ho hum this time of year, and I got a container of Tropicana Grovestand juice which was marked down and had reconstituted sweet potato puree as its first ingredient. It also had peaches and mango and a few other things. It was not my favorite, but it was okay. Hope this helps, Nancy